


The World You Thought You Lived In

by Beckymonster



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-09
Updated: 2011-10-09
Packaged: 2017-10-24 11:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/262728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beckymonster/pseuds/Beckymonster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>July 2006, Lisa Hallett of Torchwood: London is recruited by the mysterious Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood: Cardiff to be his Executive Officer. This is the story of her first year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The World You Thought You Lived In

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Harkness Variations (Story VIII)](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/4906) by Sam Storyteller. 



> Written for the 2010 Torchwood Big Bang. [Art for this story](http://wethepainted.livejournal.com/17783.html) created by wethepainted. Beta'ed by torn_eledhwen. They both helped make the story into something more wonderful than I thought it could be. For that they have my undying gratitude.

There was someone sitting in Lisa’s chair when she got into work that morning.

“Oi, you, shift!” she said, brusquely pointing to a spot that wasn’t her chair.

“And hello to you too!” Adeola Oshido muttered sarcastically as she vacated her friend’s desk chair. “Coffee machine out this morning?”

“No, finding rumourmongering best friends sitting at my desk, waiting for me to arrive will do that!” Lisa noted, a smile leavening the sting of her words as she set her handbag and take-out coffee onto the desk.

Adeola did her best to look wounded. Lisa wasn’t impressed. “I wasn’t going to spread rumours, I was going to spread the truth!” she exclaimed, watching Lisa settle into her chair, rummaging through her bag for the necessary details of the day. Hairbrush, mirror, staff pass, phone.

Lisa sighed deeply. “There is nothing to tell,” she commented, her hands stilling in the guts of her handbag for a moment. She looked up at Adeola, who was now perched on the edge of her desk, right by the Canteen’s PAYE forms folder.

Adeola raised an eyebrow. “That’s not what I heard from Sun in Payroll!”

“So you’d rather trust the word of some blabbermouth in Payroll over your supposed best friend?” Lisa sniped, some heat in her voice.

“No!” Adeola replied, meaning it. “Why do you think I’m here?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, the fabric of her dark suit bunching up. “Sake of my health?”

Lisa sighed heavily. “Not that anyone’s gonna believe me. Bar Ianto-”

“Bar Ianto,” Adeola parroted, leaning forward.

“It was Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood: Cardiff and I made him a coffee. It would have been rude not to as I was in there to make one for myself and-”

“And?” Adeola prompted, eager for more.

Lisa shrugged her shoulders. “That’s all I can tell you. American accent, wears an RAF greatcoat and likes well brewed coffee.”

“So you didn’t ask him why he’s here, whether he’s the Captain Harkness that Torchwood: London has records of going back to the late 1800’s? Whether he’s actually met the Legendary Doctor?” Adeola groused, moving her hands to her hips.

“No, because my mother brought me up better than to pepper a complete stranger with unasked for questions, when all they want is a coffee and directions!”

“What am I ever going to do with you?” Adeola asked rhetorically, shaking her head.

Lisa gave the matter consideration for a moment. “Meet me for coffee, usual time?”

Adeola rolled her eyes and nodded. “If I must. Oh! This was on your desk.” she said handing over a handwritten envelope.

“Thanks,” Lisa noted dryly. She slid her finger under the flap to slit it open, pulling out a single sheet of paper.

“Well?” Adeola asked, her curiosity obvious. If she couldn’t find out any more about Captain Harkness, then perhaps she could find out about Lisa’s ‘admirer’.

“Nothing!” Lisa replied, smiling a little too sharply at her friend. The message was intended for her and her alone. An invite to lunch, at noon and could she bring more coffee from yesterday. It was unsigned but Lisa had already figured out who was doing the asking.

“Be that way then,” Adeola noted, no heat in her tone. “I’ll see you at coffee?”

“Coffee then,” Lisa replied contritely. “If it was something important I’d tell you.” she offered as a salve. “You know that don’t you?”

“Coffee!” Adeola replied heading for the door. They were still good.

***

Come noon Lisa was wondering what the blue blazes had possessed her to agree to Harkness' request. By the time she had nipped into the tea room to make the requested flask of coffee,she'd considered chickening out at least twice. Yet something stopped her from hiding in the canteen and propelled her down to the foyer to her meeting with Harkness.

To Ianto, later that night, she'd say it was pure curiosity - to see if the rumours she'd heard about Harkness were all true, if nothing else. It was a truth of sorts.

The cavernous glass and steel foyer of Torchwood: London was packed with smartly dressed office workers and white coated scientists as Lisa exited the lift. Everyone moved with purpose, if their duties and destinations held the safety of the world in their power. In some cases, they did.

Taking a deep breath, she walked slowly into the main space, looking for her lunch date. Wondering again, whether she hadn’t finally gone around the twist.

Lisa spotted an available seat and sat down; all the better to give some respite to her aching feet. Wearing her new stillettos for work had seemed like such a good idea this morning. Now she was regretting it and would be for at least the rest of the week if the screaming pain signals emanating from her feet were anything to go by. Still, she had her ballet flats in her desk drawer and half the plaster counter from Boots there too; so she'd at least be able to get home without leaning on Ianto too much after work.

She was considering the etiquette of pulling her book from her bag when she heard the noise level in the foyer drop, a sure sign that something had caught everyone’s attention. Only a few things could do that and they were usually all bad news.  
Lisa glanced around to see what the issue was before she spotted Harkness exiting the lift, two steps behind Director Hartman.

"And I'm telling you again, Yvonne, this whole plan will not work!" Harkness exclaimed, his voice loud and clear over the restrained hubbub of the foyer.

"I don't see why you are so concerned, Jack," Yvonne Hartman, director of Torchwood London asked as she moved with a grace and sureness (on killer black heels, no less) that Lisa could only dream of through the foyer. Nodding in acknowledgement to various staff as she passed. Pointedly not taking much notice of the man walking behind her. "It's not as if we will be needing the services of your motley quartet to clear up after us." She turned to face him, all perfectly styled hair and suit, "Or should that be 'trio' now?"

Even from where she was sitting, Lisa could see the flash of pain of Hartman's barb hit Harkness deep. She winced in sympathy for this strange man with whom she'd shared coffee to and passed the time of day with. Any loss of life in the course of duty was a terrible thing; but it cut him deeper than that. Perhaps she'd ask him about that over lunch; ask who it was what had they had meant to him.

"That was a low blow, Yvonne," Harkness ground out, "Even for you."

Hartman shrugged her shoulders. "Return to Cardiff, captain, I shall call for you when Torchwood: London needs you to clear up after us." she said as she strode out of the main doors into the hubub of Canary Wharf at lunchtime, pausing at the threshold to ease a pair of sunglasses onto her face.

Lisa was so busy watching the byplay that she didn’t realise that there was someone standing next to her until they coughed politely.

“Ianto!” she exclaimed, looking up to see her smartly suited boyfriend standing there. “I didn’t see you.” she explained.

“I could see that,” Ianto noted, a dry note to his tone. “I was wondering if you were free for lunch. Grab a sandwich from Pret and go sit in the park. Enjoy the sunshine while we can. Wimbledon starts next week, y’know.”

It was a tempting offer. Any other day, Lisa would have said yes, but she could see Harkness look her way a questioning look on his face. She nodded before turning back to her partner.

“Ianto, I should have told you this morning, I have a business lunch.” It wasn’t a lie, just giving the truth a bit of a tweak.

Ianto nodded, his expression falling slightly. Lisa noticed the small change, her heart clenching in the process. Again she wondered if she was making the right decision. “I’ll share all the gory details with you tonight?” It wasn’t much of a salve but it was all she had to offer.

He nodded, offering her a small smile. “Chicken Caesar salad for tea?” he asked.

Lisa smiled up at him, resting a hand on his chest. "Why, Mr Jones, you certainly know how to spoil a girl!" she said, smiling widely at him. She was standing him up for a complete stranger and he was happy to cook her favourite dish. Defintely a keeper.

"See you tonight then," Ianto said, a small smile on his lips as he leant forward to peck her on the cheek.

"Same time, same Bat channel!" Lisa replied, dropping her hand to let him walk away from her. She could see Harkness walk slowly toward her as Ianto walked straight past him, giving him a slight nod to acknowledge his presence, since the captain was the stuff of Legend around Torchwood: London.

That in turn caused Harkness to glance back, an appreciative smile on his face before he turned his attention soley back to her. It was then that Lisa remembered one of the rumours she'd heard about Harkness; that he swung both ways, flirting outrageously (at very least) with both boys and girls. The thought made her smile, if he ever tried it on with Ianto, she wanted to be there, with a camera. Photos or it never happened.

"Miss Hallett," Harkness began, nodding his head in acknowledgement.

"Captain Harkness," Lisa replied,returning his greeting. She hefted the stainless steel flask out of her handbag. "I have the coffee you requested."

He smiled at her, a smile that made Lisa think of toothpaste commercials, cool and brilliant, before gesturing to the rapidly opening and closing foyer doors. "Shall we?"

"We shall." She led him, with a smile, into the bright June sunshine.

***

When Jack Harkness said that they would be having lunch in Greenwich Park, Lisa thought he was joking.

He wasn't.

That much was certain by the time he had ushered her into the glasshouse-like heat of the DLR train. She knew she could have protested but innate curiosity stopped. She wanted to know more about this strange man and the member of his team who had died. Kicking up a fuss wouldn't get her that information, whereas improvising would.

A quick phonecall to McKenna helped. Impromptu meeting with Captain Harkness of Torchwood: Cardiff to discuss his team's PAYEs. Middlesborough had cocked it up, blah blah blah. Her boss harrumphed and grudgingly agreed. As she disconnected the call, Lisa wondered what on earth Harkness and his team had done to annoy all of Torchwood: London, even the HR department.

She was slotting her phone back into her handbag when she noticed Harkness's expression. It was as if she'd passed some kind of test; part pleased, part measuring.

"You could have lied, you know," Harkness noted in a conversational tone.

"Could have," Lisa agreed "But given the good weather, bending the truth and saying that I have a meeting is going to go further than lying and saying that I've come down with a stomach bug," she explained as Harkness nodded. "We've got a *lot* of that going on at the moment. It gets worse when there are major sports fixtures or good weather." She shrugged and raised her hands, pointing to herself. "I can get away with that excuse today because I like the shade I am, I don't need to change it," she joked.

Harkness laughed before replying, "someone as beautiful as you doesn't need the embellishment."

Lisa snorted, "I bet you say that to all the girls!"

Harkness' smiled. It was a warmer smile than the one she'd seen in the foyer. "To all the boys too!"

Lisa glanced out of the window, feeling herself heat up with something akin to embarrassment. She'd spoken more out of reflex than anything else. The whole conversation was skirting too close to territory that had no place at work. So she turned to watching the river, residential areas and strangely named stations pass by. "So I've heard," she murmured.

***

Greenwich Park was bustling as much with truanting school kids and office workers sunning themselves on their lunchbreaks as tourists visiting the Old Naval College and the Observatory when Lisa and Captain Harkness walked through the ornate gates.

In other circumstances, Lisa knew she would have appreciated that detail; no one would take any notice of an office drone gone AWOL being accompanied by someone who looked like he had stepped off the set of Pearl Harbour. Well, she would have if her feet weren't killing her; which they were.

Still, she kept it together long enough to direct Harkness to the Queens House and the benches at the back of the complex that looked out from under the Georgian architecture to the sloping hill topped by the Observatory sparkling in the sunshine.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Harkness look at her, questions in his eyes. "How are your feet holding up?" he asked, as they sat down on the sun-warmed wood.

"Is it that obvious?” Lisa ground out, surprised that Harkness had noticed. Ianto only ever noticed that she was ever having problems when she started to swear up a blue streak as to just how much agony she was in.

"Only if you've ever tried it yourself," Harkness replied as he patted the pockets of his greatcoat for something.

"You've had occasion to wear four inch stilettos?" Lisa asked incredulously, wondering if she could make it to the Pavilion cafe without crying. After all Harkness had promised her lunch and not only was she in pain but hungry too. It never made for a good combination.

Harkness grinned as he set the rucksack onto the stone floor. "Indeed I have and perhaps one day I'll tell you the full story," he said as he stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out something that, on first glance, looked like a tin of Vaseline. "But for now, use this on your feet."

"Not before you tell me what it is!" Lisa said, grimacing as her feet screamed in pain as the pressure of being on her feet lifted. The pain didn't abate but simply throbbed insistently.

"I'm not quite sure what it's originally called," Harkness commented as she took the tin from him and turned it in her hands. She'd called it right, it was a Vaseline tin, but one from the 1950s - which kind of fit with the rest of the retro image. What she saw when she opened the tin was nothing like she'd ever seen before.

"It's neon green," she noted quietly. Working for human resources may have meant that Lisa was away from the 'business' end of Torchwood but it didn't mean that she didn't know what their business was.

"But it's safe for humans and it's an excellent cure for minor injuries," Harkness explained, "Owen, who's Torchwood: Cardiff's medic, calls it 'Snotolene'."

Lisa hissed in pain as she eased her feet out of her shoes. Harkness' reputation was for many things but being a sociopath wasn't one of them. If it helped her walk back to the DLR without bursting into tears from the pain, then she was going to take it.

She scooped some of the green goo onto her fingers and leant forward to rub it onto her abused feet. The change was instantaneous. The pain vanished as if a switch had been flipped, instead a feeling of relief remained.

"Oh!" she sighed quietly as she ran her fingers over her now cured feet. "Oh..."

"Told you it was good stuff," Harkness noted as he turned away to pull open the rucksack he had been carrying. "Keep a hold of it, it might come in handy later."

"Thank you." Lisa replied, meaning it. "You're too kind."

Harkness snorted. "Don't think you'll be saying that after lunch," he said as he proffered her a pre-packed sandwich from Tesco. "Torchwood: Cardiff's 'entertainment' budget doesn't stretch to Waitrose, I'm afraid!"

Lisa laughed as she pulled the coffee flask from her bag along with the orange plastic cup she had pinched from the tea room earlier. "Right now, I don't really care, I could eat a horse!" she said, pouring a cup of coffee for him and one for herself.

“You’re most probably wondering why I invited you to lunch,” Harkness noted as he took the proffered coffee with a nod.

“That and wondering why you had to drag me all the way to Greenwich,” Lisa commented as she ripped her sandwich open. “There are plenty of decent places for impromptu picnics at Canary Wharf you know,” she noted as she bit into her sandwich.

Harkness shrugged. “I know the setting isn’t quite what it could be but there are damn good reasons,” he explained as he set the coffee down on the bench between them and opened up his own sandwich.

“Such as?” Lisa asked, curiousity raising it’s head again.

“Such as walls have ears," Harkness noted as he took a bite of his sandwich. "And I'm not just talking about One Canada Square either."

Lisa nodded. "And what those walls hear tends to be distorted as it travels faster than light." she remarked wryly, remembering the scurrilous rumours that Ianto had told her all about last night - the ones that Adeola was so ‘interested’ in clearing up.

A warm, wide smile was Harkness' response. "Nothing you can't handle?"

She smiled back. "Nothing I can't handle. You should take it as a compliment, Captain. Last time the gossip mill went into overdrive like that was...."

"The last time I stopped by Torchwood: London!" he noted, laughing. Lisa joined in the laughter; it was after all, true. "So what did the gossip mill have to say?"

"Variations on the theme of you and I *not* sharing coffee in the tea room but going at it like rabbits in the broom cupboard," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I wouldn't say no," Harkness stated, taking a sip of coffee.

Lisa couldn't help it, she started to giggle helplessly. Granted, the Captain was hot but- "I have a boyfriend!" she replied, once her laughter had subsided.

"The hottie in the suit in the foyer?" he asked. Lisa nodded, grinning; she was so going to tell Ianto that tonight. "I like threesomes." She was sure that his reaction would be memorable.

"I'll keep that in mind," Lisa noted dryly. Fit and he knew it, she thought before asking, "So, other than escaping the all pervasive gossip mill and not being heard by the walls, why did you drag me out here?" She shrugged her shoulders, "Not that I'm complaining, it's a lovely day and apart from the aching feet..."

I want to offer you a job.” Harkness stated, cutting her off.

The sandwich that had been in Lisa’s hand fell out of it and onto the stone paving below; an opportunistic husky dog ran over and bolted down said sandwich before Lisa (or its owner) had realised what had happened.

“Beg your pardon?” Lisa replied faintly. She was sure that her hearing was playing up. Harkness wasn’t offering her a job... was he? She was just a lowly HR officer, she wasn't a scientist or a field agent. She was support staff for pity's sake!

“You heard me,” he said calmly. “I’m offering you a job.”

Lisa closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself before opening her eyes again. She wasn’t hearing things, she hadn’t fallen into an alternative reality, she was minus a sandwich but she could handle that.

“What sort of job?” she asked. It couldn't hurt to ask. “And why me?”

Harkness studied her for a moment before he began to speak. “I’m in need of a new Executive Officer, an XO,” he said. “Someone I can trust to deal with the day to day running of Torchwood: Cardiff.”

“Something happened to your team,” Lisa noted as she picked up her coffee, slowly as not to spill it. The pieces fell into place, starting with Director Hartman’s cutting words.

Harkness looked to the ground, not meeting her eyes. “You heard Yvonne taking potshots then.” he observed sadly, turning the coffee cup in his hands. “Her name was Suzie Costello. She was an excellent XO, a good friend and a fine human being. I’ll miss her.”

“She died.” Harkness went on, looking up at Lisa. Answering the question that was on her lips. “It was supposed to be just another clean up operation for Torchwood: London and...” he stopped and turned his head away from her.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Lisa murmured as she reached out to gently rest a hand on his arm.

Harkness placed his own over hers. “Thank you.” he said sincerely as he gently took her hand into his. He squeezed it for a moment before letting her go and turning to face the Observatory ahead, resolutely placing One Canada Square, known to both of them as Torchwood: London at his back.

"I don't mean to sound crass, but what does an Executive Officer do." Lisa slowly asked, shifting around on the bench to face away from the London skyline. "And more to the point, why me?"

"In answer to the question ‘why you?’," Jack said, draining his coffee, "Lisa Mercy Hallett, born 1982 in Leytonstone, London. Second child of five. No criminal record. Academically very bright, first child in the family to go to university. Upper second class honours degree in psychology from Aston University-”

Lisa dropped her eyes at just how many details Harkness knew about her. Yes, it was all pretty much public record but when a near stranger rattled it off it was... unnerving to say the least.

“Recruited to the Civil Service out of university, you specialized in Human Resources and two years ago, you were headhunted by Torchwood.” Jack cocked his head at her. “Am I missing anything?”

“No,” she murmured faintly.

“As to what you would be doing, come to Cardiff for a couple of days and find out." He reached into his rucksack and pulled out a padded envelope, which he handed over to her. "All the details you'll need"

"You seem very sure that I’ll actually say *yes*." Lisa said as she filed the envelope away in her handbag for examination later. A quick peek had revealed train tickets and printouts. "I have a life here, a good job-"

"That bores you," Harkness cut in. "I read your last evaluation."

Lisa's jaw dropped. "Those are confidential!" she snapped. "Not to mention kept on the most secure parts of the London mainframe-"

"Which my tech specialist managed to get to in about..." Harkness paused a moment before continuing, "Three minutes - she spent more time trying to search out the right candidates for me to speak to than getting past the firewalls."

“There were others?” Lisa asked, curiosity and competitiveness colouring her tone.

Harkness nodded his head with a grin. “There *were*” he stressed, “But now you’ve passed the final test, the job is yours for the asking.”

Lisa shook her head, “Final test?” she asked, “I don’t understand.”

“Do you honestly think that I was really that lost when I stumbled into the tea room yesterday?” Harkness asked.

Lisa considered the question. She shook her head. “I guess not,” she admitted.

“I wasn’t due to be in London until yesterday.” he said. “It gave me an opportunity to see if any of the candidates were worth pursuing.”

Lisa raised her eyebrows “In a manner of speaking!” he amended.

“Of the four I was looking at, you were the only one who actually gave me the time of day and gave me some excellent coffee.”

“Thank Ianto for the coffee,” Lisa noted with a smile, “He’s the coffee expert, not me.”

“Is he now?” Harkness commented, raising his eyebrows, before carrying on. “My team is real small. I need to know that the people I recruit are going to get on with me and the team I already have.”

“That’s a fair call,” Lisa replied, nodding. “So was all of this some kind of follow-on interview?”

Harkness smiled widely at her. “Yup, it was.” he stated. “The lunch date was part to see if you were willing to take a chance and also to see what you’d do in that situation.”

“The situation where you pretty much kiddnap me?” Lisa asked sarcastically.

“Pretty much!”

“I do ask one thing before you sign on the dotted line,” Harkness said, a serious expression on his face.

“Which is?”

“That you come to Cardiff, see it for your own eyes, not through the eyes of the lovely Ianto,” Harkness explained, “There are things you need to see before you say yes.”

Lisa nodded. “That’s fair.” she agreed.

Harkness’ expression was sombre as he nodded. “Let’s just hope that you don’t regret it.”

***

The sun was beating down on Mermaid Quay, Cardiff, as Lisa Hallett walked down the ramp to the quayside bench just outside the ratty old Tourist Office. In one hand she had a take away coffee, in the other a chocolate ice cream cone.

It was the work of a few moments for her to settle herself onto the bench. Coffee, handbag and denim jacket piled up beside her as she pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes and settled down to enjoy her ice cream.

Any of the tourists walking by to catch the ferry into town would have seen a beautiful black woman, dressed in a brightly coloured tea dress and white plimsolls, enjoying the sun, the view of Cardiff Bay and her ice cream.

What they weren’t to know was that she was also lost in thought over what she had seen and heard earlier in the day.

A heavy tread on the wooden quay told her that she was not alone. Without turning her gaze from the Bay, Lisa lifted the takeaway coffee up and proffered it to the interloper.

“Thank you.” the interloper replied politely, taking the offered coffee before sitting down next to her.

“It’s from the little coffee shop up on the main parade,” Lisa commented, nibbling on the cone of her ice cream. “I know better than to buy you Starbucks.”

“It looks like penalties for England again in the football,” Ianto Jones noted as he sat down next to her. He was comfortably dressed in chinos and white t-shirt, cotton bikers jacket slung over his arm; presentable but not overly smart. “I overheard it on the radio that they had on in the office.”

“Do I look bothered, Ianto?” Lisa asked, turning to face him, peering over the rim of her sunglasses.

He smiled at her, a beautiful boyish smile. “No, but I know you like to be aware of these things.”

“More like you enjoy gloating.” she shot back. “Save it for Monday, after they lose, sweetheart,” she mumbled before taking another lick of ice cream.

“Or to taunt everyone in archives and research with it over the e-mail,” he commented as he took a sip of coffee.

“Ianto Jones, you can be a nasty bugger when you choose to be.” Lisa noted, shaking her head, her words leavened by the warmth in her tone.

“I thought that was one of the reasons why you love me.” he commented as he leant towards her.

“You have your moments,” Lisa noted as she turned her head to kiss him gently on the lips, “Not many of them, but you do have them.”

“Coffee and _Empire Strikes Back_ quotes, doesn’t get much better than this,” he said, putting his arm around her.

“I’ve made a decision,” Lisa announced as she felt the cool drip of ice cream run down her hand.

“You’re going to accept the captain’s offer,” Ianto said placidly,

She paused and stared at him for a moment, her hand halfway to her mouth so she could lick the melted dessert off her fingers,

“Am I that bleedin’ obvious?” she demanded.

Ianto shrugged and offered her a small, placating smile. “Only to those who love you.” he said, pulling a hankie out of his pocket. “You made your decision when the captain explained about the island.”

Lisa took the hankie with a nod and a smile. “Ianto, I...” she paused, scrabbling for the words to express what she had felt at what she’d seen, “I can’t stand by when I know I can help.” She glanced down at the hankie in her hand before stuffing it under a shoulder strap and licking her fingers, Ianto wrinkled his nose up in mock disgust, which made her laugh uproariously, sending the seagulls flapping away.

“I’ve always known that... there were ‘loose ends’,” she said slowly, her tone serious. Picking her words so very carefully, lest anyone overhear their conversation, “You’d hope that those who make the decisions would make... allowances,”

“Not so much,” Ianto commented, taking her hand into his and squeezing it gently. He knew exactly what she meant. He had seen the records; of Torchwood: London’s encounters with aliens and with ordinary people who had gotten into extraordinary situations through no fault of their own. It didn’t make for pleasant reading.

“And yet, there are those who do make allowances” Lisa mused. “And I want to get involved.”

She’d made her mind up the moment the Captain had told her about Flat Holm and about the work that Torchwood: Cardiff did. Picking up the pieces left behind by London but also running the hospital/hospice/centre for those who were too broken to return to the lives they had before. It wasn’t pretty and she sure as hell wasn’t a nurse but someone had to help those who London callously regarded as ‘collateral damage’. Might as well be her.

“So, when are you going to tell him?” Ianto asked, staring out at the Bay.

“When I’ve spoken to you,” she said, looking down at the pier. This was the part that she’d been dreading from the moment that Harkness had offered her the post. Discussing her future with the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

A future she might have to consider without him by her side.

“Then I’d better have made my decision by then too,” Ianto said, sipping at his coffee.

Lisa frowned. “What decision?” She couldn’t remember Ianto being given any different information than she had been. Yes, Harkness had invited him to accompany her. As a member of Torchwood: London, Ianto was entitled to visit Cardiff if he so wished and if Cardiff were in agreement. That and he made for an excellent tour guide of his home city.

It was Ianto’s turn to look away. “You know there was a letter addressed to me at the hotel’s reception when we checked in yesterday?”

Lisa nodded, it had struck her as being a bit strange but not out of the ordinary. She had done it herself for visiting consultants and other dignitaries.

“Well, it was Captain Harkness offering me the post of archivist and general support manager for Torchwood: Cardiff.”

“I didn’t know they needed one!” Lisa blurted out, she shook her head and squeezed Ianto’s hand. “What does a general support manager do?” she asked, her professional curiousity kicking in.

“Apart from take orders from the executive officer?” he asked.

“Well I can vouch that you do that well enough!” Lisa commented, grinning like a fiend but waving at him to carry on with what he was saying.

“I think his exact words were, when we talked about this earlier were: ‘To make fantastic coffee and look good in a suit’ He told me that I came recommended,” Ianto noted dryly, “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that do you?”

Lisa threw a hand up (the other still held her nearly eaten ice cream) “All I told him was that you were the coffee specialist, not me,” she said. “As for the suit, he saw that for himself!”

Ianto dropped his head but Lisa could see the tell-tale flush flowing up his cheeks.

“Lisa, he really wants you to say ‘yes’, I can only go on what you’ve told me about the pay and conditions but he wants you to take the job,” he counselled. “I’m being recruited as an incentive.”

She shook her head as she finished her ice cream. “He really didn’t have to do that,” she noted. “I was ready to say ‘yes’ the day he asked!”

“I had kinda guessed that but I still wanted to make sure that you both played nice with the other children and you knew what you were letting yourselves in for ”

Lisa and Ianto both turned towards Captain Jack Harkness, striding towards them from the Tourist Office.

“And the verdict is?” Lisa asked, peering over her sunglasses at him.

“The jobs are yours,” Harkness replied, opening his arms expansively.

“I’m saying ‘yes’ only if she does,” Ianto deadpanned, gesturing to her.

“That’s because your job is dependent on her saying ‘yes’!” Harkness commented, “Though if you make coffee like that all the time, I will come to London and kidnap you anyway. Lisa?”

She took a deep breath before replying; almost as if she was preparing herself to dive off the highest board at her local swimming baths. Just like she always did before she did something that she knew scared her but was going to do it anyway.

“Yes.” she said, loudly and clearly. Not caring if the crowd outside the ice cream parlour could hear her. “I accept your offer.” she added, holding her hand out to shake on the deal.

Harkness took her hand, holding it in a firm grip. “Welcome to Torchwood: Cardiff.”

***

“Okay, next item,” Jack said, turning in his chair to face the table. “Any more news about those man-eating bedsheets?”

“Is anyone else utterly bemused at the existence of ‘man-eating bedsheets’?” Ianto asked dryly from the other end of the boardroom table.

“Yeah well,” Owen ground out, seated at his usual place in the middle of the table.  
“It’s something that I could have quite happily gone through life without hearing about but they exist and they’re eating people.”

Lisa looked up from the copious notes she had bound into the clipboard she had balanced between her knee and the table’s edge. “Hang on, isn’t that more the jurisdiction of London?”

“We were asked by Torchwood: London to look into the matter,” Tosh explained, raising her head from the laptop screen for a moment. “It doesn’t happen that often,”

“But when it does, it’s usually concerning something that London thinks is a joke,” Jack noted darkly.

“Except it’s not,” Lisa stated. It wasn’t a secret what London thought of the ‘regional’ offices, that they were considered ‘lesser’; there was a difference between knowing and experience. “Good to know.”

“Make a note to...” Jack began.

“To add that to the training manual!” Lisa finished, dredging up a small smile. It was becoming a common refrain, with Ianto joining in from time to time.

“See?” Jack replied, turning to her with that Hollywood smile of his, “this is why I’m keeping you around!”

“And it has nothing to do with the fact that the fantastic coffee would dry up too?” Lisa batted back sweetly.

“Where she goes, I go,” Ianto commented. Lisa smiled her thanks. He didn’t have to support her but it was appreciated all the same. She promised herself that she’d show him how much that night.

“If the BOGOF two have *quite* finished?” Owen asked, the sarcasm palatable.

“Carry on, Owen,” Lisa directed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jack nod. At the implicit command, Owen continued with his report.

Lisa let the matter pass. She’d expected it and Owen hadn’t disappointed her. Anyone without her access may have kicked up a stink at his attitude but she didn’t; it had taken her about a fortnight but she’d finally got Owen. Not that she’d tell him that.

It had taken a little bit of digging, which as executive officer, she was entitled to do. Jack had instructed her on the first day to get to know the rest of the team - so she did. She began reading between the lines of Owen’s ‘official’ paperwork; a skill picked up in London as not everyone was ever completely truthful on their applications. She also asked Jack questions over a ‘bribe’ of coffee and Cadburys Fingers. Eventually she found out about Katie, his wife and how that had, via Jack, led him to Cardiff.

It went a way to explain why he took great pleasure in irritating both Ianto and herself. She could understand but it didn’t mean that she could find it in herself to quite forgive. At least not yet. Perhaps in six months she’d get around to it.

“Lisa, liase with London about getting copies of Owen’s reports to them,” Jack ordered.

“Will do,” she said, scribbling a note on the top sheet of her paper pile, a requisition order for medical supplies for Flat Holm.

He laid a hand lightly on her arm. “But don’t be too efficient about it, okay?”

She grinned at him. “I think I can do that,” she replied, scoring through her original note.

Any loyalty Lisa had to London didn’t make it past Paddington Station. Her exit interview with Assistant Director McKenna had seen to that. One thing that could be said about it was the fact that it was mercifully short but then ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the way out’ didn’t take that long to say.

“Tosh!” Jack exclaimed, turning to face the petite woman sitting next to Lisa, “What have you got for me on those readings that UNIT sent to us?”

Lisa wondered if she was the only person who picked up on the flicker of distaste that fluttered across Tosh’s face whenever anyone mentioned UNIT.

Not that she could blame her new friend. If Lisa had been pushed to act in the same way as Tosh had to protect those she loved then she’d feel exactly the same way too.

It was an accident that Lisa had found out at all about Tosh’s ‘colourful’ past. If it hadn’t been for some jobsworth at UNIT HQ following up on a report about a prisoner released into the care of Torchwood: Cardiff she’d never have known. Not that she cared.

So Lisa had gotten the jobsworth to talk - what did he want to know, how could she help. That sort of thing. When she finally, carefully replaced the phone back in the cradle, Lisa was shaking so much she walked out of the office and onto the Quay without so much as a ‘by your leave’ from anyone.

Lisa knew that if she’d stayed in that office one moment longer, she would have said something. Which would have involved her boss and just generally caused a lot of ill feeling. Walking out, however temporarily was, by far, the better option.

So she sat on the bench by the Tourist Office front door and brooded. It was Tosh who came out to see her, bearing mugs of coffee. They didn’t talk much, other than to comment that the weather looked like it was on the turn and that Lisa should invest in a decent raincoat.

In return, Lisa had asked Tosh (in anger, to her shame) how she could deal with it.

“Because it’s better to be free and working for Torchwood than back in that cell.” was the reply.

It was nearly impossible to argue with such calm logic. So Lisa didn’t bother.

What she did do was invite Tosh over for dinner. It wasn’t much but it was the start of a friendship.

“Okay, any other business?” Jack asked, looking around the table. Everyone shook their heads except Lisa.

“Quick reminder - if you need to take leave, please for the love of the universe!” she said, stressing her last words, “try to book it in advance. I’m good with the paperwork but it doesn’t just vanish into a black hole you know!”

“So noted!” Jack replied nodding.

Lisa now knew the answer to the question that had puzzled Torchwood: London for years. How many men called Jack Harkness had worked out of Cardiff since the first one was put on the books in the late 1800s?

Just the one. And no, she hadn’t figured out how either; nor had anyone else. One thing was certain, she was keeping it a secret.

“Or at least I haven’t found anything in the archives that can push paperwork into a black hole without destroying the universe as we know it.” Ianto drawled as he pushed back his chair to stand up. “Not unless CERN beat us to it!”

Ianto, on the other hand, was ever the same. Something Lisa was grateful for.

***

Jack Harkness was patiently waiting in the gun range for Lisa to join him.

It was her own damn fault; she knew she had to be signed off on being able to shoot to be a fully active member of Torchwood: Cardiff. Jack had said that it was just a formality, as had Tosh and Owen and even Ianto, who’d been signed off weeks before.

Instead of going to the cinema with her to see _A Scanner Darkly_ , he’d elected to stay late and sign off on his gun training. Jack had invited her to join them but Lisa had opted for an animated Keanu Reeves instead. At the time, it had been an easy decision to make.

Unfortunately, the training wasn’t something she could put off forever; however hard she had tried. So much so that Jack had gone into her diary and booked in an appointment for her at the gun range.  
Lisa prided herself on knowing what battles to fight and which to retire from with good grace. This was certainly one of the latter ones.

“You know, the sooner we start, the sooner we can get this over with,” he coaxed.

“I know that,” she said as she took a deep breath and walked over to where he stood. Next to them was a table laden with the widest array of guns Lisa had seen outside of a gangster film.

“Guns bother you, don’t they,” Jack stated as Lisa stared down at the weaponry laid out before them. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, they do,” Lisa replied tersely. Everyone had said the same thing, guns were not needed at Torchwood: Cardiff. Whatever they cleared up was either dead or so incapacitated that it was in no fit state to put up a fight. They trained on guns as a precaution, nothing more. Torchwood: London dealt with the stuff that would fight back by sending in the Black Berets. Once those guys had done their work, whatever was left didn’t have much fight left in them, or breath for that matter.

Jack nodded and leant towards her against the table, wrapping his hands around the table edge; his body language open, listening.

“Care to share?” he asked quietly.

Lisa looked towards the guns and then at Jack. She paused for a couple of heartbeats before answering. “My family moved to the suburbs of London when just after I started school. My grandparents stayed put.”she explained, searching for the words to express herself best. “It was never an area where you could keep your door unlocked or little kids could play out in the street without someone keeping a weather eye on them but it was... normal.”

“Things changed,” Jack noted somberly.

Lisa nodded. “I started to really notice it after I came back from university. It wouldn’t make the national news but the local newspapers, from round where my family lived, would run stories of kids getting involved with gangs. Stabbings... people dying on the streets where me and my brothers and sister would play when we went to see Granny Hallett when we were little.” she explained quietly. “I won’t even play video games.” A shaky laugh, “How crazy is that?”

Jack laid a gentle hand on her arm. “Not crazy at all. Try sensible.” he said. “I hope you’ll never have to use one,” he said before gesturing to the table behind him. “I simply want to keep my people safe, so everyone is trained up.”

Lisa stepped towards the table, giving herself a mental pep talk at the same time. She was made of strong stuff. She’d stared down legal and illegal aliens, monsters, Torchwood: London Black Berets and on one memorable occasion, the deputy Prime Minister himself. Pieces of metal were not going to win where they had not.

“I understand, where do I start?” she asked turning towards the table.

“That’s what I like to hear,” he said as he moved to her side, picking up one of the guns.

***

Last time Lisa had checked, other than hoary old jokes about guns in pockets equalling being pleased to see you, guns did not equal seduction or sex for that matter.

Or at least it didn’t until Captain Jack Harkness.

She wasn’t too sure what she had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t large, warm hands gently guiding her into the ‘correct’ position. Nor was it instructions and recommendations softly spoken, like sweet nothings, into her ear.

And as for the way that Jack Harkness stood so close that it would have been impossible to slide a playing card between them, she was sure that definitely wasn’t a method used for firearms training. Getting someone into bed, certainly.

Still, it must have worked as the first time Lisa actually ‘fired’ a gun, she hit the target (a paper Weevil of all things) dead centre. Surprise and delight engulfed her like a tidal wave as she realised what she had done.

“Oh my!” she exclaimed, laughing delightedly as she carefully set the gun down onto the table before jogging forward to get a better look at her handiwork.

“I’ll give you that one,” Jack stated, smiling and laughing with her. “Although it was more of a joint effort.”

“Was it good for you too?” she asked, feeling slightly light headed at her accomplishment.

Jack grinned at her. “Well, since you put it that way...” he drawled, a twinkle in his eye.

“Do you teach everyone to shoot like that or am I a special case?” she asked as she walked back to Jack and the table. Genuine curiousity prompting her question.

Jack picked up another gun, loading a magazine of bullets as he spoke. “I’m sorry Lisa, my love, but you’re not my first-”

“Damn!” she replied, being as un-serious as the occasion allowed.

“But I’ve used that on everyone on the team and everyone I’ve trained to use a gun for Torchwood.”

Lisa nodded, appreciating the answer. A thought prompted her to speak before her inner censor could stop it. “Even on Ianto?” she asked, aiming for ‘innocent’ but stalling at ‘naughty’.

Jack glanced sidelong at her. Lisa felt as if he was reading her like a book. A very short one with very lurid pictures in it. “Even on your lovely Ianto.” he replied with just the slightest hint of innuendo in his voice

“Oh.” was all she could say in reply. Which was hardly a surprise as her higher functions had decided to short circuit over the images her imagination were supplying for edification.

Lisa Hallett was sure of herself on a number of issues. Anyone who couldn’t see past her skin colour and/or her gender was an idiot, was one. A day without reading or a hug or laughing was a day wasted was another. So was that the fact that she had a *thing* for men with accents.

If they were tall, beautiful (body and soul, she had standards) with dry senses of humour and pinchable bottoms as well as the accent then Lisa wouldn’t exactly kick ‘em out of bed. Ergo Ianto Jones.

It was also going a long way to explaining why she was developing feelings for Captain Jack Harkness as well.

It wasn’t something that Lisa had been planning on. Yes, she would happily admit that her boss fitted her criteria to a tee. There were two downsides (three if the fact that he flirted with everyone and everything counted, which she was happy to waive) One, he was her *boss* and two, she loved Ianto Jones. Lusting after her boss wasn’t exactly on her list of ‘Things To Do’.

Then again, Lisa had never envisaged learning how to fire a gun or working for a top secret organization that worked out of the Tourist Centre in Cardiff Bay either.

Besides, who needed to know that she thought that Jack Harkness was hot and if she wanted to fantasise about having both him and Ianto in bed to make love to her? That was nobody’s business but hers. Classic female fantasy and all that.

“Does that bother you?” Jack asked, giving her a look that she recognised. It was the ‘tape measure’ look; the one Jack used when he was assessing someone’s reactions to something out of what would normally be perceived to be the ordinary.

“No!” Lisa stated with a shake of the head. She closed her eyes, the image of Ianto and Jack, playing on repeat. Lined up body to body, almost embracing, a mirror to her own experience... With a flash of understanding Lisa realised that it was arousing; hell of a time for her to have a sexual revelation.

“Oh, just having a Road to Damascus moment.” she replied, staring at the ceiling.

“Oh.” Jack replied, not quite getting it. “Oh!” this time he got it. Lisa felt herself grow hot with something that would have been embarrassment if she cared. She could talk to Jack about pretty much anything, but her personal relationship with Ianto. A girl had to keep some secrets. This needn’t be any different.

“You do realise that if you want any study material, I’d be glad to supply it.” he said, a teasing glint in his eye.

“Harkness!” Lisa exclaimed, laughing again, glad that they were back in business. Since starting in Cardiff she only ever called Jack by his surname when she was either teasing or pissed off.

“Shall we continue?” he asked with a grin as he handed her the gun he was holding, butt first, to her.

“We shall,” Lisa replied, purposefully taking the gun from him and facing the target again.

***

“Would you look at the queue?” Lisa breathed as she and Tosh barrelled through the door of Cardiff Cineworld, pushed by the biting November wind.

“Well, it is a Wednesday and I’d say an awful lot of people have exactly the same idea as we do.” Tosh explained as she pulled her personal phone out of her handbag.

“Go see a half-price film!” Lisa nodded as they joined the end of the queue that snaked twice over through the large open space of the cinema foyer. “A lot better than the other options on offer.” she added, a trace of bitterness in her tone.

“Let me see...,” Tosh muttered, either pointedly ignoring or not noticing her friend’s sarcasm as she scrolled through the text messages on her phone. “Ah, found the voucher text and...” her voice trailed off as she studied the phone screen. Lisa cupped her elbow and gently moved her along the line, so that the group of giggly teen girls could step out of the chill blasting through the door.

“And what?” Lisa asked, her curiousity getting the better of her. She’d already memorised the listings and had picked out a couple of possible choices for the evening. Or at least she had when she thought that Ianto would be with her.

So much for that plan.

“My reservation for Christmas has been accepted.” Tosh replied, looking up with a smile. “I usually stay in London for the Christmas lectures-”

“Hang on, didn’t you say that your family live in Worthing?”Lisa asked bemused. She took a step back as the queue moved forward.

“Yes, they do,” Tosh replied, distracted by the posters hanging high above the ticket desks. “Oh! They’re showing _The Prestige_!” she exclaimed, “I’ve heard good things about that.”

“Um, yes, it’s directed by the same guy who did _Batman Begins_ , Christopher Nolan,” Lisa rattled off. It had been her first choice of film to see with Ianto.

“I loved that movie, do you know who’s in this one?” Tosh asked as she squinted at the poster that was a good twenty foot from where they stood. “I can’t see.”

Lisa laughed. “Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Scarlett Johnannson, for starters.” Her tone turned serious; not even Ianto could divert her with movie talk when there were more meatier issues on hand “So why aren’t you spending the break with your parents?”

Tosh turned away, seemingly towards the pick and mix. Lisa mentally kicked herself for her stupidity. “It’s to do with...?” she waved a hand in the general direction of the Bay, a shorthand for work.

“Something like that.” Tosh replied, offering up a wan smile. Lisa decided not to push further but instead to do something about it.

Starting from right now. “Well, if you’re in London, why don’t you come to my family’s for Christmas dinner?”

“Oh I couldn’t” Tosh replied, turning to face her as they stepped around a bend in the queue, past a couple arguing over whether going to see _Casino Royale_ was an appropriate anniversary date movie. Lisa was definitely in the pro camp on that one.

“Nonsense!” Lisa replied, mind whirring with possibles. “You’d be saving me from terminal boredom for one!” she joked, glancing up at the listings display. “That and a bad case of over-eating. Mum tends to cook for the five-thousand, so an extra mouth saves the rest of us from turkey curry for the foreseeable.”

Tosh laughed delightedly. “You’re teasing!” she exclaimed.

Lisa smiled, “Oh no! Oh and be careful - my Auntie Mary will try to find you a husband. Oh, I didn’t notice that they’re showing _Pan’s Labyrinth_!”

“So our choices are either Wolverine and Batman doing magic or a Spanish language film with magic and horror.” Tosh commented.

“Yup.” Lisa replied as the cashier called them forward. “What shall it be?”

“Let’s bamboozle the boys tomorrow with tales of our night of culture at the cinema.” Tosh noted pushing her phone into the hands of the cinema usher. “Two for _Pan’s Labyrinth_ please!” she turned back to Lisa. “And yes, I’d love to come to your family Christmas dinner. Mad Aunties and all.”

***

“What did I say?” Jack asked plaintively as he watched Tosh and Lisa grab hold of each other, shivering theatrically. “All I said was that I was going to count to three!”

 

***

The Hallett House was the place to be on New Years Eve; their house parties were legendary on their street and on the streets around them. All were welcome as long as they brought good thoughts and times with them. The occasional bottle of booze didn’t go amiss either.

Lisa ducked out of the kitchen door into the small, well kept garden behind the house, snagging a pashmina to protect against the cold as she did so. It was possibly the only place where she could actually hear something rather than the throb and hum of the music blasting through every room in the house. Her breath turned to steam as she sucked great lungfuls of the cold December air. She loved these parties, laughing and dancing with friends and family, but there were times when all she wanted was five minutes of peace and quiet.

She pulled her phone out of her trouser pocket and checked the messages. Sure enough there was a text from an expected guest; reading through the details Lisa could tell that all was proceeding according to plan. Which was possibly the first time that *anything* had gone to plan this holiday for her.

With hindsight, Lisa knew she should have realised that something was wrong when she noticed how ‘distracted’ Ianto had been with her the night before she travelled back to London.

Usually Lisa would have brushed this off as him being concerned with work, but he called her ‘Myfanwy’. And yet... Lisa knew Ianto wouldn’t cheat on her with another woman. Mainly because she knew that if she had competition for Ianto’s affections; it was either Jack Harkness or his coat.

There was a time when Lisa felt she could joke with Ianto about Captain Harkness’ near constant flirting with him and Ianto’s adoration for Jack’s coat. Now, not so much.

It was starting to add up to something that Lisa did not want to admit to. That her relationship with Ianto wasn’t as secure as she had thought it was. Just small things, like the fact that they seemed to spend a lot of time in quiet, intent conversation. That and the scratches on Ianto’s arms and shoulders.

Others might have jumped to the conclusion that Ianto was having an affair with the boss. And while she knew (since she’d asked) that at very least, Ianto wouldn’t say no to the captain (putting the can of worms commonly known as ‘work’ to one side) he would only do it if she was there. Especially after he found out about her little revelation on the gun range. It didn’t add up.

Oh and aliens gatecrashed Christmas dinner. The real-life extra-terrestrial type that both she and Tosh (who had been welcomed with open arms and twenty questions about Cardiff Office by her family) worked with everyday in secret.

Well, they weren’t so secret anymore with their bewitching of a fifth of the population and their bloody big spaceship right over the City.

It didn’t exactly help that they had both acted far too sensibly in the face of something that was that earth-shattering; helping to calm everybody down and keep an eye on Auntie Mary and Cousin Levi. It had aroused her mother’s curiosity and if there was something that Mrs Mercy Hallett couldn’t resist, it was a mystery.

Both Lisa and Tosh had tried to phone Cardiff or even Flat Holm to get advice but all they got was the ansaphone. Typical.

Tosh had gotten through to Jack when from seemingly out of nowhere there had been a pulse of green light and the biggest explosion that Lisa had ever seen.

Lisa guessed part of the story. It had to be Torchwood: London behind the pyrotechnics. She had told Tosh as much, who had relayed the information back to Jack. She and Tosh hid in the kitchen, away from everyone else, eating the Cadburys Celebrations and trying to work out what the hell was going on.

With regard to the whys and wherefores, they had as much information as the talking heads on the TV. Jack said that he’d look into it and get back to them if there were any immediate issues that required them to get back to Cardiff.

It was all anyone could talk about since that night; that and the rumours about the PM and what a good sort Harold Saxon was. Both she and Tosh stayed in London trying to carry on as if nothing had happened.

Still, finding out that humanity wasn’t alone in the Universe wasn’t going to stop her family or the neighbours partying on New Years Eve. If it did then Lisa would be expecting the world to end, right after the year did.

“Hey you!” a voice called out from the kitchen doorway, shouting loudly enough to be heard over the music pouring out of the lounge. “What in the name of David Beckham are you doing freezing your arse off out here?”

Lisa turned to see who the speaker was. “Hey Adeola!” she greeted as her old friend crossed the tiny patio to meet her.

“You’ve returned to civilization after your six months in the wastelands of Wales!” Adeola exclaimed as she drew Lisa into a welcoming hug.

“Wonderful to see you again!” Lisa replied, wrapping her arms around her friend. “You look good!” she said as the embrace ended and she took a step back to look her friend over. Regular e-mails and phone calls just weren’t the same as standing around with old friends, talking about nothing and everything at the same time.

“As do you!” Adeola replied, “So they do have some creature comforts out in the land where sheep are nervous.”

Lisa laughed delightedly. “Okay, the nearest John Lewis is Bristol but Cardiff has a lot going for it.”

Adeola’s politely disbelieving expression said otherwise. Lisa wisely changed the subject, as Adeola had strongly advised her to refuse Jack Harkness’ offer and stay in London. Lisa had never regretted ignoring the advice and wasn’t going to start now.

“Did you have a good Christmas, other than the spaceship suddenly appearing and all that?” Lisa asked.

Adeola nodded, “I thought I was going to get called into work,” meaning Torchwood: London “But from what I could gather from Gareth who was on shift that day it was all over before anyone could start up the automatic callers.”

Lisa thought about asking who ‘Gareth’ was but decided against it. It would lead to questions about Ianto and that was so not a good idea.

“Good job too as I was in the middle of getting my cousin Martha Jones to stop worrying about her family and have fun. That girl needs to take a holiday!”

Lisa’s innate curiousity kicked in “So that was London with the-” she broke off, miming a big explosion.

“The Christmas Day Fireworks?” Adeola supplied wryly. “That was us. That was Torchwood.”

Hearing her old friend say the words, Lisa almost wanted to say ‘no that wasn’t’ but stopped herself. She wasn’t London anymore, she was Cardiff and would never be anything different.

“So, how are you doing?” Lisa asked, changing the subject again. “Did you get that promotion that you were looking for?”

“Sure did!” Adeola exclaimed, “I’m now working in the executive office for Director Hartman herself!”

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Lisa replied, masking her feeling of unease with a smile. Adeola Oshodi was a great friend and a good person; somehow Lisa didn’t think that she’d stay that way working at the heart of Torchwood: London.

Lisa’s phone bleeped loudly from her pocket. She pulled it out, read the message and turned apologetically to Adeola.

“Look, I’m so sorry about this but I’ve just had a text from someone who’s coming late.”

Adeola shook her head and made shooing gestures with her hands. “Go! I’ll catch up with you after midnight,” she said as her expression turned serious for a moment. “But remember one thing; Cardiff isn’t on the Moon you know! You can phone me or IM me - even if it is to bitch about the sheep!”

Lisa nodded and reached out to hug her. “Thank you,” she whispered into her friend’s shoulder before she ran back into the house.

She found Tosh in the hall, sitting on the stairs talking with Mercy Hallett, her mother. About what, Lisa didn’t want to know. Hopefully it was something that would not mean her mother would be meeting her boss in the not too distant future, bearing a little white pill.

The doorbell jangled loud enough for her sister Mary and brother Neil to stick their heads out of the living room to see what was going on. “I’ve got it!” Lisa yelled, loud enough for her siblings to return to whatever they were doing and for her mum and Tosh to stop talking for a moment.

Lisa took a deep breath and opened the door.

What happened next would become a memory that Lisa wanted to treasure for the rest of her life.

Standing on the doorstep was Mrs Asuka Sato as expected, with some unexpected guests - most likely to be her husband and other members of her family. Of Tosh’s family.

It was incredibly bad manners on her part but Lisa couldn’t resist turning around to gauge Toshiko’s reaction.

“Okaa-sama?” Tosh breathed as she unsteadily stood up from the staircase, with Mercy providing a helping hand, walking towards the doorway.

“Toshiko!” Mrs Sato cried out as Toshiko ran into her arms and hugged her fiercely.

Lisa felt a sharp elbow to her ribs. “Lisa, you were not brought up by wolves!” Mrs Hallett remarked dryly, loud enough to be heard in the little hallway “Invite Mr Sato and the rest of the family in!”

“Mr Sato, please come in!” Lisa said, grinning hugely as she offered her hand to Mr Sato to shake.

“Miss Hallett, a pleasure to meet you at long last!” Mr Sato replied, smiling at her. He glanced at his wife and daughter. “You’ve made my entire family very happy indeed.”

“Mr Sato-” Lisa began.

“Akira, please!” Mr Sato injected.

“Akria,” she corrected, glancing over at her friend reunited with her mother after so long. She could feel the tears in her eyes and a lump forming in her throat. If she wasn’t careful her make up was going to end up running like Linford Christie but she really didn’t care. It was worth it. “The pleasure is all mine.”

“Come this way, let’s get you all sat somewhere more comfortable and get you some drinks. It will be midnight soon!” Mercy suggested as she ushered the Satos into the study.

As Tosh walked past Lisa, she stopped a moment to give her a bone crushing hug. “Thank you!” she murmured quietly, wiping her face with the back of her hand. Lisa wanted to say thank you but started to cry instead as the sound of Big Ben chiming midnight rang through the house.

***

Just after the chimes of Big Ben and the singing and the hugging, Lisa stole out the garden again. Phone in hand, again to make a call.

What she didn’t expect was the person who picked up the call.

“Lisa! Happy New Year!” Jack Harkness exclaimed down the phone from Cardiff.

“Jack?” Lisa asked, “Why are you picking up Ianto’s calls?” It was a reasonable question but she feared that she wouldn’t have a reasonable reaction to the answers.

“It’s going to sound like a cliche but Ianto can’t come to the phone right now.” Jack replied, his tone as serious as Lisa had ever heard it. She’d worked right next to him, in the same office (literally), for the last six months. Yes, while he had more than his fair share of mysteries about him, she thought she could tell when he was telling the truth.  
Like now.

“I’m phoning his mobile,” Lisa pointed out in as reasonable a voice as she could muster right then. “Can’t you take the phone to him?”

A sigh from Cardiff. “Lisa, if I could, I would but he would be unable to speak to you. Lisa my love, I am telling the truth.”

Lisa closed her eyes, letting the images of what her boyfriend could be doing right then, play out. Nearly all of them were erotic and quite a few involved Captain Jack Harkness; regardless of his ‘honesty’ with her.

The euphoria Lisa had felt over seeing Tosh reunited with her family and from the party fell with a resounding crash into something like sadness.

“Okay Jack,” she said, pushing her shoulders back and shivering in the night-time air. She’d left her pashmina inside, not her best idea. “Tell him I phoned and wished him and you and Owen a Happy New Year,” she said, pushing her feelings down deep inside.

“Will do!”

“And thanks for letting me contact Tosh’s family.” she said, quieter now.

“Am I going to be put forward for ‘Boss Of The Year?’ then?” Jack asked, his happiness clear to hear over the line.

“Maybe!” Lisa noted, smiling before the sadness touched her again. “I’d better go. I’m freezing body parts off out here!” she grumbled.

“Get warm! That’s an order!” Jack stated. “Happy New Year, Lisa, see you soon!”

“Tell Ianto I-” Lisa began to say as the dial tone sounded in her ear. “I love him.” she finished dejectedly.

She closed the phone and shoved in her pocket as she unthinkingly stumbled back into the house.

Finding herself in the quiet warmth of the kitchen, Lisa walked over to the sink to draw a glass of water for herself. With hindsight something involving mind numbing amounts of alcohol might be more appropriate but Lisa decided against that.

For one, she didn’t want to be clearing up while nursing a hangover. She’d been there at seventeen and never forgot the experience. Secondly and more importantly she needed to think clearly and rationally, regardless of what her emotions were saying right then.

She turned to lean on the kitchen sideboard, sipping at her water and listening to the music that experience told her would keep on going to either sunrise or when the neighbours went home. Whichever happened sooner.

Setting the glass down onto the work surface for a moment, Lisa drew her hands up to her face to rub the tiredness away. It would wreck her make-up but then who would have cared to see?

“Okay, time for Occam and His Amazing Razors.” she muttered out loud as she picked the glass back up again. The loudness of her voice in the room made her start a little; so she quickly, almost guiltily, glanced around to see if anyone else was in the kitchen.  
Sure enough it was as deserted as it had been when she had ducked out into the garden to phone Ianto.

Assured that no one had heard her talking to herself, Lisa settled herself to returning to the the question that had been niggling at her since she’d left Cardiff.  
Considering whether her beloved boyfriend, Ianto Jones was indeed seeing someone else. If he was, who were they and what she should do about the matter.

From what she could see, as clearly and objectively as anyone could after a couple of glasses of wine and a flute of champagne or two, was that there were a lot of unanswered questions.

Who was ‘Myfanwy’?. Why was Jack answering Ianto’s phone at gone midnight on New Years Eve? Where was Ianto?

Lisa had a few questions with no answers,. She knew that she could create a few ‘interesting’ hypotheses of her own, but common sense, intuition, her academic and work training told her to find out the information she needed. Then and only then could she go bat shit, if that was what was called for.

She drank her water, rinsed the glass and returned it to the draining board before returning to the party. Whatever the answer was it could wait until she returned to work on Wednesday.

***

There was no mistaking the inhuman shriek that greeted Lisa as she stepped over the threshold of the Hub on her first day of 2007.

“WHAT’S THAT BLOODY BIG DINOSAUR DOING IN MY HUB?!” she yelled, almost dropping both her handbag and the bag of ‘treats’ that her mum had foisted onto her to take into work. Tosh must have mentioned about the guys staying behind.

Jack leaned over the bannisters, frowning at her; Tosh a heartbeat behind him, smiling delightedly at her.

“Who say’s it’s your Hub?” Jack asked, grinning easily at her shock.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Tosh sighed, not taking her eyes off the bloody big dinosaur gliding in circles above them.

“She’s not a dinosaur, she’s a Pterandon,” Ianto corrected as he quickly moved down the stairs towards her; a huge smile on his face and his clothes protected by what looked to be a heavy duty leather apron and gloves.

“She?” Lisa asked, turning surprised eyes to Ianto. She hadn’t seen him last night when she got back from London. There had been a note to say that he was working late and that he’d see her in the morning. Also that he loved her.

“Her name is ‘Myfanwy’” Jack drawled, making a mess of the pronunciation, even to Lisa’s english ear. “Ianto chose the name.”

“Oh!” Lisa gasped as facts fell into place and fears fell away, to be replaced with something that was perilously close to embarrassment. “I have to...” Lisa stuttered, waving her hand in the direction of the office she shared with Jack. “‘Scuse me!” she said before bolting in the opposite direction to the Archives.

“Lisa! Wait!” a voice yelled behind her. Ianto’s. Not that Lisa was going to wait around to find out. She wanted to get over the fact that she’d been an idiot in private and the archives were the best place to do that. Ianto’s domain, sure but it was a place that few ventured into. She only remembered the code because she usually sallied forth into his domain to take him out to lunch or pester him for coffee.

Lisa pushed the heavy door open and dashed into the cool atmosphere of the archive. The chill made her shiver even though she still had her heavy outdoor coat and pashmina on; Cardiff in winter was as bad as Ianto had made out it to be.

“Lisa?” Ianto asked from the doorway. “What’s wrong?” He stepped closer to her, “I know I should have been at home last night waiting for you but I wanted to stay here to make sure that Myfanwy settled into her new home okay.”

A strangled laugh broke past Lisa’s lips. “A flying reptile!” she exclaimed, as she dropped her bags carelessly onto the floor. Ianto stepped forward to pick them up and place them onto the small, messy work table just inside the door.

“I thought you were seeing someone else and I find out that it’s something that died out before humanity walked the earth!” she said as she dropped her face into her shaking hands. “Fuck!”

Ianto (wisely) said nothing as he stepped towards her and put his arms around her. Lisa responded by dropping her hands from her face to wrap around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.

“For what it’s worth, I’ve missed you terribly and I love you more than the world.” Ianto whispered into her ear. “That and Myfanwy isn’t my type.”

Lisa laughed weakly, raising her head from his shoulder to look at her. “And why is that?” she asked, her usual humour starting to return.

“Bit too old for me.” Ianto deadpanned. “After all, I only date beings who were born *after* the dinosaurs were wiped out!”

“Ianto Jones, that’s ageist!” Lisa cried, gently smacking him on the chest, smiling at him as she did so.

“It got you to smile, didn’t it?” he asked quietly, kissing her on the cheek, his arms holding her close.

“I owe you an apology.” Lisa began, looking up to meet his eyes.

Ianto gave her a puzzled look. “Shouldn’t I be apologising to you for all the subterfuge, regarding the Torchwood: Cardiff mascot?”

“She’s a mascot?” Lisa asked quizzically. “Should I ask who’s good idea it was for a mascot or shall I just say our beloved leader and have done with it?”

Ianto glanced down and away, a sure sign that something was bothering him “Something like that,” he agreed. “I found her via while refurbishing a Rift activity monitor I had obtained from London’s kit-”

“You mean you pinched one of London’s toys?” Lisa exclaimed, feigning shock. “Ianto Jones, you menace to society, you!”

“After the way that both you and I were treated when we put in for our transfers to Cardiff, it was only fair.” he demurred.

“It is slightly more mature than ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the arse on the way out!’ I’ll give you that!” Lisa agreed. “Carry on,” she said at his ‘patient’ look.

“I mentioned it to Jack. He thought it was something that we needed to look into. Get a march on London if nothing else. We travelled out to the Brecons to find out what this mysterious reading was. And found ourselves in the middle of a field with a creature that lived about 80 million years ago flying around above us, looking for snacks.”

“And this was when?” Lisa asked, caught up in the story.

“This was November last year,” Ianto clarified, “Jack decided that we weren’t going to leave her to London-”

“They would have killed her on sight,” Lisa agreed.

“So we trapped her humanely and brought her to a disused warehouse by the docks. Our purpose being to set about trying to tame her enough so she could live at the Hub.” He frowned as Lisa began to laugh loudly.

His face cleared as he noted her laughter. “You don’t know the half of it,” he muttered, “She adores chocolate.”

Lisa’s jaw dropped slightly. “Pull the other one, Jones!” she exclaimed, punching him lightly in the arm, “It’s got bells on it!”

He shook his head, “Remember when I came home covered in scratches?” he asked. “I had a bar of Green and Blacks 70% Dark Chocolate in my jacket pocket as a present for you.”

“That’s my favourite,” Lisa remarked, deciding to wait for a more appropriate time to tell him about what she had thought the scratches had meant instead.

“Myfanwy went crazy,” he stated, pausing to consider the matter. “Or crazier than she does when she smells Jack’s aftershave-”

“He doesn’t wear any.” Lisa piped up. Ianto’s expression turned puzzled.

Now it was her turn to look down and away. “I asked him about it as I was going to buy you a bottle for Christmas; he says it’s natural pheromones.”

“And you like that do you?” Ianto asked. Lisa noted that there was no rancour in his tone, just curiosity.

“Work cheek by jowl with him for six months and you gain an appreciation for it!” she mumbled, staring at the box files stacked haphazardly on the floor. She looked up at him, meeting his gaze again. “Myfanwy went gaga over the Green and Blacks?” she asked, prompting him to get back on track.

“She pinned me into a corner of the warehouse, nuzzling at my jacket, trying to get at the chocolate.” Ianto explained, looking up at the ceiling, a flush of embarrassment colouring his cheeks. “Jack yelling at me to give her whatever it was in my pockets, so out came the chocolate.”

His face creased into a smile as Lisa began to laugh at the mental image of her smartly suited boyfriend offering a prehistoric creature sweets. “Jack’s face was a picture!” he said as he too began to chuckle. “It was even funnier than when Myfanwy picked him up for a flight around the warehouse” He caught Lisa’s surprised expression, “Oh don’t worry, he landed on something soft, safe and well.”

“What?”

“Me.”

Lisa winced. The Captain wasn’t a small man by any means; something she could verify after the Clothes Eating Fungus clean up. She had lied through her teeth to Ianto; saying that she hadn’t looked but... she had looked and she had liked what she had seen. Not that she’d tell either man that. Not without the intervention of either copious amounts of alcohol or alien truth drugs.

“Ouch!” Lisa commiserated.

“Cariad, it made me realise something that I have to talk to you about.” Ianto began, his tone as serious as Lisa had ever heard it.

Lisa stiffened for a heartbeat before looking around for somewhere to sit. The sudden change of track gave her pause as did the use of the endearment. Ianto only called her ‘cariad’, he only did that when they were in bed together. A sure sign that something earth shattering was on his mind. She’d had enough shocks that morning already, thank you. If she was going to have another one, she was going to take this one sitting down.

By the messy worktable there was an office chair on wheels; Lisa grabbed it and pushed it towards Ianto. Another quick glance around and she found the kick stool that Ianto used for accessing the tall shelves (and for surprising any interlopers who may wander into his territory) which she took to sit down on.

Ianto took the hint and sat down on the office chair.

“Wouldn’t you be more comfortable-” Ianto began to ask before Lisa shook her head. He sighed loudly before reaching out to take her hand.

“This is not how I imagined having this conversation.” Ianto muttered, rubbing a thumb over her knuckles. “In fact, I was hoping that I’d never have to have this conversation at all.”

“Ianto, if it’s that important...” Lisa began; pushing her fears away and trying to be rational. “shouldn’t we be having this conversation at home rather than at work?”

An emphatic head shake. “If I leave it until tonight, I’ll just bottle it.” he sighed.“And I owe it to you, to us... to say this.”

Lisa watched Ianto’s face, looking for a clue as to what he was going to say, sorting through possible scenarios in her head at the same time. He’d met someone else, the where and how didn’t matter. He was having an affair with the Captain. He was-

“What would you say if I said that I had a ‘thing’ Jack?”

“I’d say ‘join the club!’” Lisa shot back without a second thought as the import of what Ianto was saying struck her. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Ianto replied, glancing at her from under his eyelashes.

“It could be worse, I suppose,” Lisa began, trying to vailiantly to think of something to say that would express how she felt and put Ianto at his ease. “You could have Owen as your ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ shag!”

Ianto frowned. “I think I’d rather shag a Weevil, thank you!” he reached out to caress Lisa’s cheek. “Are you okay with this?” he asked, his heart in his eyes. “I love you more than I could ever say and-”

“Shush!” Lisa whispered as she leant into kiss Ianto on the lips. Ianto showed just how good he was at taking orders from his superiors by letting her do just that.

It was a *good* kiss; the kind Lisa had been dreaming about since she’d left for the Christmas holidays. So no one would blame her if she put her arms around her beloved Ianto and deepened the kiss. Not that Ianto minded a jot, from what Lisa could gauge of his reaction, he was all for such a move.

“You know it’s a good job you two are incredibly hot;” a very familiar voice called out from the doorway. “Else I’d have to remind you two of company policy regarding fraternisation while on duty.”

Lisa broke the kiss and turned to face her boss, head held high. Not before she saw the love for her in Ianto’s eyes and felt his hand squeeze her nape gently.

“A rule I’m sure you’ve broken more times than Ianto’s made coffee, Jack.” Lisa replied smiling sweetly.

Jack pondered the issue as he leant against the door frame. “Once or twice but they were oh so worth it!” he replied with a smile of his own.

“As was this, sir.” Ianto noted loyally. Lisa turned her head slightly to smile at him. She loved him and would love him for the rest of her life.

“I can see that.” Jack noted dryly, “So I’m giving you both the rest of the day off.” Lisa opened her mouth to protest; as Jack Did Not Do paperwork (as it was her job after all) it was likely to be becoming sentient by now. Next thing it would be taking over the world.

“Go, fraternise at home where you’ll be more comfortable!” Jack ordered. “Be back here tomorrow, mind, sharp and early!”

Niether of them needed telling twice. “Thank you!” Lisa exclaimed as she grabbed her handbag, planting a kiss on Jack’s cheek as she ran out of the archives headed towards the lift that would take her the Tourist Office and back to the real world. Ianto only being a step or two behind.

Jack raised a hand to touch his cheek where her kiss had landed. “Gotta do that more often if that’s the result!”

***

INTERVAL

Gwen Cooper crept into her flat as quietly as anyone with years of practice of coming home at awkward hours could. Not that it mattered as Rhys was sprawled on the settee bathed in the light of some midnight monster movie on TV, fast asleep.

With a sigh she put her coat and bag onto the table and crouched down on the floor by where Rhys was resting his head. To anyone else it might seem cruel to wake him up but if she didn’t then he’d get the mother of all backaches and be grumbling throughout their weekend break to London. She’d been looking forward to this weekend too long for him to spoil it for her, so bed it was.

Just as Gwen was about to prod him awake, Rhys opened his eyes.

“Hello love!” he sleepily greeted her as he pushed himself into something that looked a more comfortable position. “Hope I didn’t make you jump.”

“No, dear, you didn’t,” Gwen lied as she shifted herself to perch on the side of the settee.

“What time is it?” Rhys asked, owlishly looking around for the remotes to turn the telly off.

“Gone three,” Gwen noted, stifling a yawn. It had been a hell of a shift, but it was now over and she wasn’t due back at work until Tuesday. She was happy to take her victories where she could get them.

“How bad was it out there tonight?” Rhys asked, holding his arms out to her for a cuddle.  
“Bad enough.” Gwen noted, gratefully accepting his offer of a cuddle. Yes, she wanted her bed but a post-work cuddle and chat would make it easier to sleep. Weird but true.

“I dealt with at least two criers. The first one had been drinking all day and was, according to her so called friends, a maudlin drunk.” Gwen explained as Rhys made all the right noises. “The second had just found out that her boyfriend had been sleeping with half of Cathays.” Gwen frowned slightly. “She was more angry than upset.”

Rhys shifted uneasily next to her. “You didn’t give her any tips did you?”

Gwen regarded him warily. “Worried are you?” she asked sweetly, daring him to say anything.

“No, more concerned about the poor stupid bastard who’s been putting it about too much!” Rhys replied quickly. “You know the law too well. Enough to bend it but not break it. Besides, I have you. Why would I want anyone else?”

Gwen leaned in for a kiss. “Good save there, Williams”

“The rest of the night?” Rhys prompted after the kiss.

She shrugged. “The usual. Calming people down, getting propositioned by every Tom, Dick and Harry with either a uniform fetish or wanting to win the next round off their mates....”

“The usual then.” Rhys noted.

“There was one thing, mind.” Gwen noted, her expression turning pensive. “They must have been from out of town. Here for a conference or something,”

“What makes you say that, love?”

“Their accents for a start,” Gwen began, leaving out that the one in the military greatcoat was so gorgeous that if he was a local she would have remembered him. What the eyes don’t see and all that... “One was American and at least two of the others were from London or sounded like they were.”

Rhys made encouraging sounds.

“One of the party was singing,” she noted, “Loudly and well. She was a beautiful [IC3](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_ethnicity_in_the_United_Kingdom), dressed in a lovely royal blue minidress with and gorgeous silver heels; which she was wobbling on a little... or that could be because she was stood precariously on the wall by the taxi rank on Castle St.”

“What was she singing?”

“She was singing ‘I am what I am’. Some of the drag queens were joining in as well-”

“The Gloria Gayor version or the musical version?” Rhys asked curiously.

“I didn’t even know that there was a difference!”

“Oh aye, they were talking about it on the radio today. Wedge Antilles from _Star Wars_ , or rather the actor who played him, is in the production. Sounded good.” he noted, not quite sure how to take the incredulous look that Gwen was giving him. “What?”

“Nothing!” she replied, smothering her smile before continuing with her story.

“Anyway, I wandered over, just to make sure that everything was okay; when she was whisked off her feet by one of the guys in her party. Must have been her boyfriend.” she said. The gorgeous white American in the military greatcoat, sweeping the beautiful black woman who sang to the castle with heart and soul off her feet. It had looked like something out of a musical rather than a bank holiday weekend in the city. “She was laughing but I still asked one of the party if she was okay.”

“What did he say then?”

He’d been as beautifully turned out as he was look at; cute valleys accent too. One to remember and look out for in the future. “He smiled and said that she was just a bit tipsy. If she was drunk, she’d be singing ‘I Will Survive’”

Rhys laughed out loud at that before pushing himself up off the sofa. “I like that,” he said, reaching out to Gwen, “C’mon, bedtime!”

Gwen stood up, leaning in to kiss him as she did so. “There’s no reason that we can’t sleep on the train you know.”

She didn’t have to suggest the idea twice.

***

Lisa Hallett woke up on Saturday morning with a hangover. Not a big one, for which she was grateful but it was there nonetheless. She’d had a great birthday celebration and now she was paying the piper, so to speak. All she wanted to do was lie in bed, nurse her aching head and perhaps cuddle up with Ianto. Best hangover cure known to man, woman or beast.

“Good morning, beautiful!” a voice murmured right by her ear.

Headache or no, Lisa turned to face the speaker so fast that her head spun. Not the best cure for a headache that was certain.

“Good morning, Jack.” she replied, sounding a lot braver (not to mention a lot less fragile) than she felt right then.

Sure enough, Jack Harkness was lying right next to her, wearing his undershirt and the worst case of bed hair Lisa had seen in a long time.

“How are you feeling?” Jack asked quietly.

Lisa pushed herself up onto her elbows. “Shouldn’t I be asking if you slept okay?” she asked, slightly bemused by the turn of events.

A patented movie star smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes crossed the captain’s face. “I asked first,” Jack replied. “But I slept fine, thanks for asking.”

“I... um... have a bit of a hangover, but other than that...” Lisa mumbled edging towards the side of the bed. “Just gotta go grab some painkillers!”

Jack didn’t stop her as she ran to the bathroom like a coward. Albeit a coward dressed in what was Ianto’s shirt from two days before.

Once behind the ‘relative’ safety of the bathroom door, Lisa leaned against the door and wondered again why she had ever thought that inviting Jack Harkness (her boss!) to share a bed (and more) with her and Ianto (who was just as enthusiastic) was a good idea.

Last night had been a perfect opportunity, what with it being her birthday celebrations. Not to mention that Jack looked as if he needed someone to cheer him up; especially after Defry Vale. So she and Ianto had taken a chance and invited Jack back for ‘coffee’.

To be fair to Jack, he could have said ‘no’. But he didn’t and came home for coffee and more.

Hence the awkward situation Lisa had ran from, in search of painkillers for her hangover. She reached into the bathroom cabinet to pull out the pain killers as well as a water glass.

In the bedroom, she heard voices talking. “Lisa, cariad?” a voice bellowed from the other side of the door. Lisa winced at the volume. Ianto, of course. Never a respecter of hangovers. Even his own. “Are you alright?”

She deigned not to answer. He knew the answer to that one. Fine but with a killer headache.

Quickly, Lisa drew a glass of water and plucked the painkillers out of the medicine cabinet before opening the door back to the bedroom and... her lover and the man she wanted to love both of them.

Ianto was ‘dressed’ in navy cotton pajama trousers and a soft grey t-shirt and sitting on the edge of the bed. The tray of coffees in his hands was an incongruous touch; more suited to work than to their home.

Jack was still under the covers, sitting up, taking a mug off the tray as she walked back into the room.

“Well, I can’t speak for anyone else but I am glad that last night happened.” Ianto said as Lisa sat down on the bed, curling her legs underneath her.

“What he said.” Lisa stated quietly. She swallowed the tablets, draining the contents of the water glass to wash them down. “I had a wonderful birthday celebration and don’t regret inviting you back last night, Jack.”

“Would you have liked something to have happened?” Jack shot back, the grin was there but Lisa was aware that there was something darker lurking in Jack’s eyes.

“Would you?”

“Yes, Jack, I would have done.” Lisa replied, quiet and steady.

“Same here.” Ianto replied. “It might not have been the best of times, what with what happened last week at Defry Vale-”

“I was just having a bad day-” Jack cut in, paying close attention to the weave of the duvet cover.

“That’s a lie, Jack and you know it.” Ianto noted quietly. “You may never tell us about why it was so significant but that’s fine. We all have our secrets.”

“But it’s something we’ve been meaning to do for....” he looked to Lisa who continued

“A while now,” she replied. “Remember when you dragged me out to Greenwich Park? You said you liked threesomes?”

Jack nodded but said nothing.

“Well, if the offer was genuine...”

“You’d like to take me up on it?” he asked, humourlessly. “You realise that what happens outside of work-”

“Stays outside of work.” Ianto replied dryly. “First rule of our relationship.” he noted, taking her hand into his.

“You’ve seen over the last couple of months that we can do that quite easily,” Lisa noted. “Your point is?”

Jack glanced from one to the other silently, considering all angles of the argument.

Lisa tried not to fidget or just generally show her nervousness. Now or never, do or die were good thoughts but when it came around to actually acting on the thoughts she’d shared with Ianto about their boss? Not so much.

“Well, I do owe Lisa a present.” Jack stated, looking at her.

“Well, if you’re offering... I’d like to watch you kiss Ianto, before you kiss me.” she replied, heat and nerves flowing through her.

Jack smiled, just a tilt of the lips that said a great deal. “And then?” he asked.

Lisa looked to Ianto, who nodded, smiling at her.

“We have a four day weekend Jack,” Ianto noted, leaning in towards him. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

***

The end of the world started on a wet Wednesday night. Torchwood: Cardiff were at the cinema. The two were not related in any way shape or form.

The last few weeks had been hellish for everyone. The Rift was experiencing the up-curve in its cycle, which meant more work for London and indirectly, Cardiff.

More bodies, more lies to tell, more cases for Flat Holm to deal with. And more paperwork too.  
The weather wasn’t exactly helping. In the last few weeks, a day without Cardiff Bay trying to reclaim the city by airdrop was a day to remark upon.

All in all, it made everyone cranky and sent morale crashing through the floor of the (already subterranean) Hub.

Lisa and Tosh had already made plans for the evening, Rift willing. A film, dinner and a *lot* of talking. Tosh had spent the weekend with her family and Lisa wanted to hear all about it.

Inviting the guys along hadn’t been part of the plan but after receiving the news from Flat Holm that three patients who’d been doing so well had given up the fight for life, Lisa made an executive decision at the end of the work day.

She threw them their coats and told them to meet her and Tosh upside in five minutes.

“Want to tell us what this is all about?” Owen asked as they headed into town by taxi.

“We all need a break,” Lisa replied tersely as the sky darkened with yet another storm. “Even if it’s just for a couple of hours,”

She had been expecting Owen to give have a go at her about how her psychology degree didn’t mean that she could make judgements on someone’s mental health. To her surprise he didn’t say anything, instead nodding and asking: “Okay, what do you recommend?”

“A film and food.” Tosh said, brooking no argument. “Followed by drinking.”

Owen smiled slightly. It was the first time Lisa had seen him smile all week. “No arguments from me,” he replied.

“Seconded,” Ianto added.

“Jack?” Lisa asked.

Jack shrugged his shoulders. “I’m in. One condition, London pick up the tab.”

Lisa grinned, “Good job that I know London’s petty cash code then isn’t it?”

“Will serve the Bristol boys not to fob their receipts onto us to deal with from now on!” Tosh noted laughing as the taxi drew up outside the cinema.

With hindsight, given the weather and all, choosing a film called _Sunshine_ might not have been the best idea but it was one that nobody had seen yet and Danny Boyle never disappointed.

Somewhere, around the [Transit of Mercury](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb01U5aKEDQ) scene, Lisa felt the tensions of the last few weeks leech out of her system. A quick glance at her colleagues, bathed in the light of the silver and gold screen told her that she wasn’t alone.

When the film finished and the lights went up in the cinema, Lisa felt not just the buzz of seeing a good film but the delight of seeing it with people she cared about.  
It took the work of a moment to curl up her half-eaten bag of Minstrels to shove them into her handbag and gather up the belongings she’d brought with her. Raincoat, umbrella, handbag were all accounted for. Everything else could take care of themselves.

As she pushed herself to her feet, she could hear Ianto and Owen quietly discuss the merits of Danny Boyle as a film maker. It wasn’t so much the subject as the discussion that made Lisa raise an eyebrow but Ianto and Owen having a ‘civilised’ conversation without resorting to sarcasm. Would wonders ever cease?

“Well?” Lisa asked as Jack and Tosh both stood up, gathering their coats and other paraphenalia. It didn’t surprise Lisa at all that Tosh had already gotten her PDA out of her bag to look something up. She did it every time, usually to check some arcane detail that she’d share with Lisa later.

“You know, for a science fiction film that was remarkably accurate” Jack noted as he eased his greatcoat on.

“Apart from the whole, ‘The Sun only has 50 years of life left!’ part,” Tosh pointed out, not taking her eyes from her PDA. The light casting shadows around the emptying cinema.

“Apart from that.” Jack conceded.

“It’s called ‘science fiction’ for a reason guys.” Owen noted, still seated and still continuing his conversation with Ianto if Lisa was any judge.

Lisa perched on the arm of a chair and patiently watched the credits roll. Ianto was a die-hard credit watcher, getting him to move before he’d at least found out who the was responsible for the soundtrack was futile. So she waited.

“Oooo!” Tosh exclaimed, reading her PDA readout and causing everyone, even the bored ushers clearing up to glance at her.

“Problem?” Lisa asked as Jack leaned over Tosh’s shoulder to get a better glance.

“Just looking up something,” Tosh replied vaguely.

“A hot something!” Jack exclaimed, resting his hands gently on Tosh’s shoulders. “Lisa!”

“Yes love,” Lisa replied wincing as she heard herself speak.

She hadn’t meant to call Jack that. Technically they were still at work and endearments like that were purely for home. She’d forgotten herself.

Everything was still very new and wonderful and a little bit strange between the three of them, still trying to work out how everything fitted together. Hence the slip.

“Yes, Jack!” Lisa exclaimed, a little louder than she had intended. She met Jack’s amused glance and Tosh’s understanding expression with equanimity.

She’d intimated to Tosh that things had changed. She was not going to lie to her friend, who had been a little bit surprised to see Jack at Lisa and Ianto’s at 7am a Saturday or two ago. Shopping in Bristol turned into shopping and long conversations in Bristol. Tosh had been very understanding, not to mention wanting details as well. Details that Lisa would give her - one day.

“First opportunity we get, we’re going to CERN,” Jack explained, gently squeezing Tosh’s shoulders before letting go.

“Do I want to know why?” Ianto asked, standing up and gathering his coat and umbrella.

“They have hot scientists there,” Jack noted with a grin, turning to leave the cinema screen. “C’mon, else the restaurant won’t hold our table.”

“This? Is my life!” Owen grouched as he stood up, handing his empty drink carton to the usher as Torchwood: Cardiff trooped out and down the escalators to the cinema exit.

“And you wouldn’t have it any other way,” Ianto noted.

That was when the ghosts appeared in the foyer and in the road outside the cinema. And with them the world went insane.

 

***

The tea room of Torchwood: London was exactly the way that Lisa remembered it. Fresh coffee bubbling away in the machine, an array of mismatched mugs on the sink draining board and six types of milk available in the fridge.

The familiarity was both heartening and alien at the same time to her. Heartening that some things changed more slowly than others; alien because this was not part of her space anymore.

With hands that betrayed only a tremor of the emotion coursing through her, Lisa poured out two mugs of coffee as she replayed the conversation over and over again in her head.

 _“No!” she cried, “It’s **you** and this bloody organisation that doesn’t understand what you’re messing with!” _

_Adeola sneered at her. “Oh and you and your bunch of reprobates at Cardiff do?”_

 _She winced at the sarcasm, pushing aside the instinct to defend her friends to Adeola. “We know that there is something not quite right.” she stated as calmly as possible. “We know-”_

 _“Nothing!” Adeola exclaimed throwing her hands up at her. “Lisa! Listen, don’t you think that Director Hartman would let the Ghost Shift continue if there was the slightest chance that it would bring about the ‘End of the World’ as you so melodramatically put it?”_

 _“Yes!” she exclaimed, not caring whether her voice carried._

 _Adeola shook her head. “You’ve changed Lisa,”  
she said, the pity in her voice clear to hear. ‘“You’re not the person I used to know.”_

 _“Yes, well...” she sighed. “Perhaps that’s for the best. As the Adeola *I* used to know would at least hear me out and not just accept the company line!”_

Lisa sensed a presence behind her as she poured the milk into her coffee. If Ianto was here he’d mutter something about ruining good coffee. “The next time you want me to gather intelligence,” she said, her voice wobbling. “You can bloody well do it yourself Jack Harkness!”

“Recommendation noted.” he replied, his tone formal as he crossed the small space to where she stood. He touched her shoulder.

Wordlessly, Lisa turned and went into his arms.

Without asking, Jack wrapped his arms, cradling her against his chest. She felt the dry touch of lips against her hairline. In thanks, she nuzzled her nose against the bare skin above his shirt collar.

Time passed and neither moved from the embrace or said anything. It took the sound of approaching footsteps echoing from the corridor outside for them to part but stay close to each other.

Lisa turned back to the counter to pick up the two mugs of coffee. She passed one to Jack.

“You did your best.” Jack stated, taking the coffee with a nod.

“Still doesn’t take away from the fact that I failed to get Adeola to listen to me.” Lisa noted bitterly, taking a sip of coffee.

“We could still be wrong, you know.” Jack noted, shrugging his shoulders.

“Based on what?” she asked. “We’ve been over the data a thousand times, Jack. Both Tosh’s and Owen’s experiments point to something being *wrong* with these so-called ghosts”

She sighed loudly. The arguments were, as ever, rhetorical. It was why they were in London after all. To present the argument to shut down the Ghost Shift experiment before... something, anything happened.

“I’d rather be called a Cassandra than not say anything and be right.”

‘I know,” Jack replied, laying a hand on her shoulder. “We’ve done what we can.”

Lisa stared down at her coffee. Unfortunately, it had no answers. “What if we’re right?”

Jack shrugged. “We do what we always do. We carry on and clear up London’s messes.”

***

When the world ended, it began with bad timekeeping. Or at least that’s what Lisa darkly joked later.

She was sitting in her cubby hole, trying to make head or tail of Owen’s requisition list, listening to Tosh, sitting at her desk, counting the next Ghost Shift in, Ianto was walking around with a tray of coffees, Owen was crashing around in the autopsy room. and Jack was playing ‘fetch’ with Myfanwy.

Everyone was a little on edge; especially after the big row where Owen swore blind that the Ghost that he saw in his flat was Katie. Jack emphatically stated otherwise. Tosh’s data backed him up.

It took three stiches, a bottle of very good scotch and five days of sullen silence for normality to return to Torchwood: Cardiff. Or as normal as it ever got.

“Ghost Shift in three... two... one.” Toshiko called out. Lisa glanced at the CCTV footage, just to make sure that everything was normal on the Plass to see... nothing.

“JACK!” Lisa yelled as she ran down from the office to where Tosh sat. “Tosh! Scan for the energy readings.” she called out as she reached her friend.

“On it!” Tosh replied, her fingers moving quickly over her keyboard. “You think there’s something amiss?”

“Has to be.” Lisa replied, tamping down on the fear crawling through her. “London run the shifts with a precision that would make the Swiss weep with envy.”

“The thing is, what’s the problem?” Owen asked as he ran up the stairs from Autopsy to join them.

“And do we have enough firepower to cope with it?” Ianto asked, tray in hand as he too gathered with everyone else, staring at the data streaming across Tosh’s screens.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that!” Jack stated feverently as he gently cupped Ianto’s elbow, Lisa recognised the gesture, Jack’s way of showing his love. “But it doesn’t hurt to be sure.” he said smiling at them. “Ianto, check the armoury. Owen, I know you have everything you’ll need on standby but-”

“Once more for luck.” Owen grumbled as he turned away to check his emergency kit once again. Ianto touched Lisa’s arm as he headed towards the armoury; a small gesture of love and comfort for both of them.

“Lisa-”

“Be prepared to plug in alongside Tosh and co-ordinate with all available agencies.” she said. “Though hopefully it won’t come to that.” the words sounded hollow to her own ears.

Going on the fearful look in her lover’s eyes, it would seem that Jack wasn’t too optimistic either.

“Tosh, you know what to do.” he said, laying a hand on her shoulder. She nodded, not taking her eyes from her screens.

Jack touched his earpiece, “Flat Holm, this is Captain Jack Harkness,” he began, reciting the pre-arranged message that he’d drawn up in consultation with the team in case of possible emergencies.

When the metal men (Later, when they had cleared away the worst of it,Jack called them ‘Cybermen’) finally broke through, not twenty minutes later, it was almost an anti-climax.

Within seconds, Ianto had brought up enough ordnance from the armoury to arm a whole UNIT battalion and change. Jack was clearly and calmly giving orders, Tosh was relaying information, Owen was slinging his triage kit onto his back and Lisa was opening channels to every agency, civilian and military who were still at their posts to start co-ordinating a response.

That was what Lisa remembered the most. Not the metal bodies, the electronic voices demanding complete surrender and the sinister promise of being ‘upgraded’ but the constant talking on her part to police chiefs, ministers, civil servants, military commanders - trying to get them onside, to tell them that Torchwood knew what it was doing and if they would *listen* to her they’d have a hope in hell of survival.

She’d morbidly joke later that it reminded her of her painfully short stint as a telemarketer. All two days of it. Except it wasn’t double-glazing she was selling now, but convincing that she and her beloved team (yes, even Owen) knew what the hell they were doing.  
It took some fancy footwork, not to mention the threat to speak to Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (Jack’s suggestion) to get everyone on the same page.

Throughout Lisa felt disconnected from herself. As if she was watching this as a film at the Cineworld on Mary Ann Street. It helped in a way, as she was sure that if she didn’t let her training, both London and Cardiff, take over she’d be no use to anyone.

As Lisa ran around the Hub, talking to the various disaster response co-ordinators and helping her friends and comrades fend off the metal monsters, she only took brief notice of the fact that the London hotline was ringing off the hook. The ansaphone was picking up the calls but it could and would wait.

Just as quickly as they had arrived, the metal men left. Swept away (literally) by an unknown, unseen force, Lisa was too scared and exhausted to care what became of them. As was everyone else she spoke to on the phone. The same with Tosh, Owen, Jack and Ianto, who she hugged in turn as she soon as she could. They were alive, that was all that mattered.

***

It was the way that her phone was vibrating furiously across the wood of her desk that finally inspired Lisa to exert the energy to actually pick the damn thing up.

Not that she had any plans to use it for it’s intended purpose. Human interaction would require more energy than she had to her name at that moment in time.

Still, she checked the display to see how many missed calls she’d gotten from panicked family members. She loved them dearly but phoning would, again, require energy she didn’t have right then.

Sure enough - first missed caller listed was her mum. Missed five times. Guiltily Lisa glanced at the landline before picking up the receiver and dialling her mother’s number without looking at the keypad.

As she did so, she glanced through the list of missed calls. Strangely enough she saw that there were missed calls from colleages from Torchwood: London. People she hadn’t spoken to since coming to Cardiff. Odd.

“Mrs Mercy Hallett speaking.”

“Hello, Mum? It’s me-” Lisa began, nearly sagging onto Jack’s desk in relief at hearing her mum’s voice on the phone.

“Oh... Lisa!” Mrs Hallett exclaimed, voice breaking. “You’re safe! Oh Lord in heaven, please be safe! Are Toshiko and Ianto with you, love?” she asked. Lisa could hear muted voices and soft yells from the background. Her dad, her brother and wasn’t that Aunt Mary?

“Yes, they’re here. They’re fine too.” Lisa replied, relief flooding through her voice. “Is everyone okay your end?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line, one that scared Lisa.

“Have you seen the news?” Mercy Hallett asked after a long pause, her voice breaking with emotion.

“What? No, I haven’t seen the news.” she said. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see both Jack and Ianto standing in the doorway of the office. They looked as weary as she felt. “Mum! Tell me what’s wrong!” Lisa demanded, fear colouring her voice.

She listened hard to her mother’s soft rasping breath on the phone and to Ianto call out to Tosh to call up the newswires.

“There’s been an attack on Canary Wharf.”

***

Try as hard as she might, Lisa would never be able to tell anyone what happened next.

She could remember staring at the newswires scrolling across Jack’s computer with the (few) black and white facts of the events unfolding in Canada Square.

The photos from the Reuters feed of smoke belching from the higher floors of One Canada Square would stay with her for the rest of her life.

That Ianto stood, staring at the London hotline, watching the office ansaphone rattle off it’s stored messages. No pleas for help, just requests, to pass on messages. Messages of love, of goodbye.

 

Then Owen at her side, talking quietly to her. Not that she could make out what he was saying; just his tone. Soothing and gentle, just like he talked to his patients at Flat Holm.

She turned to see Ianto looking as if someone had taken out his batteries or cut his strings. If it wasn’t for Jack holding him up, Lisa knew he would be in a heap on the floor.

“Let’s get you two somewhere a bit more comfortable,” she heard Owen say gently. “You’re in shock.”

“I’ll prep the Quiet Room” someone said. It sounded like Tosh. Lisa didn’t turn to see - all she could see was the stark horror of Torchwood: London burning brightly against the Thames skyline and hear the voices of her co-workers asking them to pass on their final messages to their loved ones.

***

Lisa woke upying next to a warm body, to the touch of a hand gently running through her hair.

“Hi,” she whispered as she glanced up at Jack who was cradling her against him.

“Hey,” he replied, just as softly.

“Cariad,” Ianto greeted her. He was lying, curled up by Jack’s side, on the other side of the bed to her. He reached out to touch her hand, his arm snaking over Jack’s torso. Lisa grabbed his hand and held onto it as if her life depended on it as the memories of what they had seen and survived threatened to drown her.

“Where’s Owen and Tosh?” she asked, glancing around at her surroundings. The Quiet Room was just that. A place for quiet and peace, decorated with minimal furniture (a big comfortable bed, a small table or two and a large, battered leather sofa). Lisa had only come here on those, rare, occasions when she needed to be away from *everyone*.

“I sent them home, they’re fine. Just need to rest.” Jack replied, “It’s the best place for them right now. Although who’s home they’ll end up in is anyone’s guess!”

“But at least they are safe.” she confirmed.

“Yes.”

She steeled herself to ask the next question. “Do we have any more information about what happened to London?”

As the words left her mouth she could feel Jack tense up under her. She clung onto Ianto’s hand all that harder.

“Torchwood: London was the beachhead for an alien incursion.” Jack began, “The ‘official’ line is that it was a terrorist attack’. UNIT are on scene-”

“Did anyone survive?” Ianto asked. His voice was so quiet that Lisa nearly couldn’t hear him.

She felt Jack sigh raggedly. “Twenty survivors accounted for so far.”

The words hit Lisa like knives stabbing into her vitals. Tears formed in her eyes. She may have felt nothing but apathy towards London since her departure but that was aimed more at the organisation, not at the people. Her colleagues, her friends... of whom nearly all of them were...

“There were over 800 people working for London,” she heard Ianto say dully. “What happened to them?”

“I’m so sorry, Ianto, Lisa, all I know is that they’re currently listed as ‘Missing’.” Jack said, voice breaking as he leant down to kiss each of them on the forehead.

As she felt the touch of his lips on her, Lisa began to cry. For the seven hundred lost souls, for their loved ones and for those like her and Ianto, who had survived and would have to live with that guilt for the rest of their lives.

***

The press called it ‘The Battle of Canary Wharf’. Only a few, well placed sources knew how close to the truth the media were for a change.

The British public dealt with the incident the same way they always did. Kept calm and carried on; pausing to remember the dead and to show their solidarity against those that would disrupt their ways of life by gathering in the major squares to remember the seven hundred and ninety seven souls who had died on that fateful afternoon at One Canada Square.

When the full casualty lists came through, everyone at Torchwood: Cardiff took time to read through the list and mourn the dead. Both Lisa and Ianto held Jack as he told them about his lovely Rose, another of the casualties of the fall of London and the doctor he had travelled with for a time.

Time passed and the memorial for those who died at Canary Wharf was arranged. Not that the dead cared, but it helped the living.

The full enormity of events truly hit Lisa as she and Ianto walked across the plaza to stand at the bottom of the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral for the service.

Jack had signed off on their attending without a word, something Lisa was grateful for as she knew that this was going to be hard enough as it was.

They joined the slow procession of the great and the good (politicians, senior civil servants and high ranking military) and those who came to mourn the family and friends they had lost, just like them.

Lisa was slowly walking up the steps behind a rather slow politician, who had stopped to give a vox pop into a microphone shoved into his face when she heard someone calling her and Ianto.

Both she and Ianto turned towards the speaker. Toshiko, flanked by both Jack Harkness and Owen; dressed smartly and somberly.

“You’re here!” Lisa blurted, surprise and gratitude colouring her voice.

“Executive decision.” Jack explained.

“Taken by all of us.” Tosh clarified, reaching out to hug Lisa.

“Thank you.” Ianto replied simply as Jack nodded a greeting to a white haired UNIT brigadier climbing the stairs next to them.

“They may have been bastards, but they were *our* bastards” Owen noted, sticking his hands into his pockets.

“And we look after our own.” Jack noted, reaching out to place a hand on Lisa’s back. “Shall we go in?”

Lisa nodded, turning to walk up the stairs to the enter the cathedral when something caught her eye.

There, on the intersection of St Paul’s Church Yard was a blue police box, just like one she’d seen in Glasgow a few years before. The thing was, she was sure that it wasn’t there a couple of moments ago.

She shook her head - business could wait until tomorrow. Today was a day to say goodbye to the past and look to the future.

“Yes, we shall.” she said, turning away as behind her the blue box’s door opened.


End file.
